The Freedom Minute

Another Paul Koretz Bombshell

If you’ve been following the Paul Koretz saga , you’ll know that last week I confronted this Los Angeles City Council member regarding his Nazi Germany analogy when referring to Arizona’s illegal immigration law. Here’s what he originally said:

“If this was being proposed at the Federal level, I would think we were absolutely at the beginning of what went on in Nazi Germany. It’s not much different. Fortunately it’s a State, but this State needs to be stung in every possible way until they stop this behavior. We can’t let this advance any further, this is absolutely dangerous.”

Koretz has been extensively criticized for playing the Nazi card, including this rebuke from Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Weisenthal Center. “We don’t need on top of everything else invoking imagery that is inappropriate. This type of language is toxic, is not accurate and makes the whole issue more difficult, not less difficult, to resolve.”

Koretz, aware of this criticism, admitted to me that “I learned something. But that was my gut, from the heart, response, and I probably wouldn’t say it again. I mean even my friends at the Simon Wiesenthal Center… even they took a shot at me – and maybe appropriately so”.

From this, one might believe that Koretz truly didn’t realize how insensitive his words might be and that he was somewhat regretful; that he really didn’t know any better and that he’s now learned his lesson.

However, I’ve uncovered some truly astounding information that I believe casts Paul Koretz’s entire behavior in this matter in a new light. So, as Paul Harvey used to say, here’s the rest of the story:

Two years ago, the City of Pomona, California was embroiled in a similar controversy. The police department had set up a DUI checkpoint near a large Cinco De Mayo celebration. While the department claimed that the location and timing of the checkpoint was entirely based on the fact that Cinco De Mayo is known for large alcohol consumption (and presumably intoxicated driving), they came under fire from Latino citizens who felt they were being unfairly singled out. Specifically, claims were made that illegal immigrants were being targeted, with the subsequent impounding of their vehicles, since illegals cannot obtain driver’s licenses in California (which the Supreme Court has ruled may legally be required to be shown at DUI checkpoints).

The next Monday, at the Pomona City Council meeting, one of the council members who had witnessed the police action stated that it reminded them of movie scenes depicting the Gestapo. (For those of you not up on your WWII history or who’ve never watched “Hogan’s Heroes”, that’s the secret police of Nazi Germany.) Over the next few weeks, a public uproar ensued as this council member was widely criticized for injecting Nazi imagery into the debate. In fact, the head of the Western Region of the Jewish Labor Committee (a group formed in 1934 in response to the rise of Nazism in Germany) attended the July 21st council meeting and lectured this council member on their use of the word, “Gestapo”, proclaiming “This is a blood-curling analogy. I would ask you to consider even some sensitivity training”. He added, “I just thought that what was said was insensitive enough and painful enough that someone needed to say something.”

And now the kicker –

The council member who made the “Gestapo” reference was named Cristina Carrizosa. The representative who found her remarks so painful and insensitive as to require her to consider attending sensitivity training? – Paul Koretz!

That’s right, the same Paul Koretz who just two years later, at a Los Angeles City Council meeting, thought it was perfectly acceptable for him to state that Arizona’s enforcement of Federal immigration law meant that “we were absolutely at the beginning of what went on in Nazi Germany”.

The only word to describe this behavior is hypocritical.

Did Paul Koretz somehow forget than just two years earlier he drove over an hour out to Pomona to lecture a city official about how the use of the word “Gestapo” is a “blood-curling analogy”? Did something happen in that two years that now makes it ok to invoke the specter of Nazi atrocities when criticizing government actions toward illegal immigrants without drivers licenses? Is it somehow ok only when Paul Koretz does it?

What this new information says to me, is that Paul Koretz knew exactly what he was doing when he compared Arizona to Nazi Germany. How could he not? Just two years earlier he called such language “a blood-curling analogy”. And told Cristina Carrizosa she needed “sensitivity training”.

That’s pretty strong language. You don’t just forget something like that.

After my initial conversation with Mr. Koretz, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but no longer. Not with what I know now. I believe he was being disingenuous when speaking to the Sherman Oaks Homeowner’s Association and to me directly.

Paul Koretz first tried to suggest that he was somehow being misunderstood or misquoted. Later, in response to my criticism of his actions, he said that he’d “learned something from this experience”; that he wouldn’t be repeating those remarks. Which makes it sound as though he didn’t realize that his words might be hurtful.

But this suggestion that he now realizes that maybe he shouldn’t have said it and is somewhat regretful, is impossible to reconcile with the fact that not two years earlier he was the one criticizing the use of Nazi metaphors – in an almost identical situation.

I believe that the only proper interpretation is that Paul Koretz cynically chose to use the deaths of 12 million innocent people to ingratiate himself to a group of constituents that he believed might be able to help him politically.

Paul Koretz owes an apology not only to me, but to the citizens of Los Angeles and to the Jewish community as a whole. I think he also owes an apology to the Latino community for having the nerve to criticize Ms. Carrizosa for daring to use the word “Gestapo” while reserving his right to pander to their community using the same type of hyperbole about the exact same subject matter.

Shame on Paul Koretz.

(The information regarding the Pomona controversy and the quotes attributed to Paul Koretz are from two articles by Monica Rodriguez which appeared in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in May and July of 2008. I have not been able to independently verify these quotes, but Ms. Rodriguez has confirmed with me that they are accurate.)

May 26th, 2010 Posted by freedomminute | Federal Government | 3 comments